


Welcome to ALTEA

by teddiehtet



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Where Shiro meets a cute boy at a UNIQLO-like clothing store
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-23 02:06:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17674364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddiehtet/pseuds/teddiehtet
Summary: On a scale of "but why" to "why wouldn't I", how likely would it be for Shiro to keep going back to his friend's store, under the guise of buying more clothes, just because he met a cute employee?





	Welcome to ALTEA

Keith was so close… so close to slamming the pile of clothes he’s holding in his arms, onto the floor. It’s only been a few hours of him forcing a smile and fake being as polite as he possibly can (which isn’t very much), but he couldn’t do it anymore. Throughout those hours, he mentally chanted that, number one, this was all to help out Allura, his good friend and owner of ALTEA, the clothing chain that almost the whole world gushes about. And number two, he’ll be earning a lot of money, since it was the holiday season and many people will be doing last minute shopping.

_“Please Keith,” Allura had pleaded. “You’re the only other friend I know besides Lance who’s had experience working in retail. We’re going to be short staffed during those days, and you’d be helping me out so much if you just come in for a few days help out at ALTEA. I’ll make sure you get paid a hefty sum if you help me.”_

Being the good friend he is, Keith agreed to work for a few days at Allura’s store, thus landing himself in this current situation.

 _“This is for Allura,”_ Keith reminded himself. _“Okay, deep breaths. You can do this. Only a few more days left…”_

“Um, excuse me.”

Suppressing a frustrated growl, Keith closed his eyes and recomposed himself. He swore, if he had to take another customer around the whole store and were forced to answer their questions in excruciating detail, Keith was going to flip. Putting on his best fake smile, Keith turned around, trying his best to not drop the clothes in his arms.

Keith just about dropped the pile of clothes he was holding. Standing in front of him was one of the most jaw droppingly handsome Keith had ever laid his eyes on. The customer had a full head of white (or maybe silver, Keith thought) hair but judging from his features, Keith figured he was probably in his late twenties. A pale scar across the bridge of his nose added to his charm, in Keith’s opinion. Another feature that caught Keith’s eye was handsome man’s prosthetic arm. It looked like it was hovering, rather than attached; very futuristic, Keith thought. He also thought he wouldn’t mind having that large arm hooked across his waist—

“Yes?” Keith squeaked, mentally slapping himself out of his spiraling imagination. “How may I help you?”

“Sorry for bothering you. I was just wondering if Allura’s here?”

“Yes! Yes, she is, uh… do you want me to go and get her…?”

“Oh, no, it’s okay. I’ll just send her a message to let her know I'm here,” the stranger replied. After a few seconds of silence, the stranger spoke, “That’s a lot of clothes. Here, let me take half of the pile.”

Before Keith could protest, the kind stranger had already moved forward and collected half of the clothes from Keith.

“Thanks,” Keith spoke, his voice a little muffled from him trying to bury the bottom half of his face in the smaller pile of clothes.

The stranger gave him a blinding smile that reached all the way to his eyes. Keith swore he saw the man’s eyes sparkle.

“I’m happy to help! Where do you want me to drop these off at?”

The clothes were all mixed up and truthfully, each piece of clothing belonged in many different parts of the store. However, Keith just led the stranger to one section and instructed him to pile the clothes there so that he can fold them and put them away to their respective shelves.

“Since I’m here already, let me just help you fold them too,” the man offered.

“Wait, no, you’re a customer,” Keith quickly interrupted.

“I want to help though,” the stranger countered. “There may be a lot more other things that you need to do today, so I’m happy to help with this, even if it’s pretty insignificant.”

Keith sputtered. Not only was this man more beautiful than any other living being Keith has seen, but he was also the nicest customer Keith had met during his time at ALTEA.

“W-Well, if you’re sure,” Keith gave in.

The two of them folded all the clothes in comfortable silence, and Keith was grateful for it. Keith didn’t trust his own mouth and didn’t know what stupid comments his last remaining brain cells would fire off.

Some moments later, the two of them heard a voice.

“Shiro!” Allura called out as she approached Keith and the handsome customer. “Happy holidays! I hope you had a great trip with the Holts.”

The man named Shiro chuckled. “Happy holidays, Allura. The Holts are always a pleasure to travel with.”

Allura hooked her arm around Shiro’s prosthetic arm. “Please, tell me all about your trip!”

Keith stared after them as Allura led Shiro to her office, the two of them lost in conversation.

“Wow…” Keith sighed. “So his name’s Shiro.”

* * *

“So,” Shiro started, once Allura had closed her office door behind them. “Is he a new hire? I’ve never seen him here before. Poor guy, having to start off his job right in the middle of the holidays…”

“Keith?” Allura asked. “He’s a friend of mine, not really an actual employee here. I asked and he agreed to help us out during these few days.”

“He seems… nice.”

Allura burst out laughing. “He’s definitely trying. In the past, he wouldn’t even have been able to last as long as he has now.” Allura’s side eyed Shiro as one corner of her lips turned up into a knowing smirk. “You seem to be really curious about Keith.”

“I can’t really hide much from you can I?” Shiro chuckled.

“I’ve known you for years, Shiro. I was there before, during, and after your relationship with Adam, and I know all the signs you show when someone piques your interest,” Allura lightly teased. “Keith’s going to be here for around three more days. Why don’t you drop by during his shifts?”

“I appreciate your help Allura, but I don’t think I want to bother him,” Shiro politely declined. “For all I know, I might have been another customer that he had to be nice to, but didn’t really want to be.”

“Keith’s only been here for a couple of days, but plenty of customers have tried to hit on him.”

“Wait what-“

“And to all of them, Keith made it extremely obvious that their advances weren’t welcome. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was working, he most likely would have physically fought them,” Allura continued. “I was personally there to see some of those incidents and I’ll tell you now Shiro, Keith’s very open if he dislikes something, or someone.”

“And you’re telling me this because…”

“Keith seemed to be quite at peace when he was with you, from what I saw,” Allura pointed out.

“I was afraid I was making him uncomfortable… I admit, he **is** really beautiful.”

Allura nodded with a smile. “Keith’s pretty face has actually drawn in more customers.” She playfully nudged Shiro. “He’s my temporary employee, but as your friend, I’ll allow you to flirt with him in my shop.”

“F-Flirting—” Shiro sputtered. He cleared his throat and spoke more seriously, “Honestly, I would love to get to know him better. I can’t really explain it, but it feels like something’s drawing me to him? I feel like we already have some sort of connection? I’m not even sure myself. I just have this urge to talk with him.”

“So you should talk to him,” Allura urged. “If you need some help from the side, I’m always here.”

“Thank you for your support, Allura. I’d rather try to talk to him myself first and I’ll hopefully be able to carry a conversation.”

“Hmm,” Allura hummed. “I’m glad to hear that you’re becoming more open, Shiro. Keep in mind that I’m supporting you and Keith one hundred percent. Also who knows? My fingers may slip and I may just accidentally send Keith’s shift times to a certain friend of mine.”

Shiro just nervously laughed.  

* * *

“Lance, that’s him. The customer from yesterday’s coming through the entrance right now,” Keith stage whispered.

“You really weren’t exaggerating when you said he was a masterpiece crafted by the gods themselves,” Lance whispered back as he kept folding t-shirts.

“He’s coming this way,” Keith panicked. “Lance, what do I **do**?”

“Number one, stop gripping that shirt so hard. It’ll get wrinkles,” Lance responded. “Number two, calm down man. You breaking down now isn’t exactly gonna attract tall, beefy and handsome.”

“You’re one to talk about breaking down,” Keith hissed. “Who’s the one who melts into a pile of goo every time Allura talks to you?”

“Hey! I may have been a disaster in the past but at least we’re dating now and very much in love,” Lance retorted.

Before Keith could respond, Shiro’s voice interrupted them. “Good morning. May I ask you guys for some help?”

“Yeah, definitely!” Lance quickly replied. He ripped the shirt Keith was holding out of Keith’s hands and nudged his friend towards Shiro. “Here, Keith will help you with whatever you need.”

“Thank you. I was just wondering if you could recommend any good winter coats that aren’t too heavy,” Shiro requested.

Keith nodded in understanding and started leading Shiro away. He then looked back at Lance, who gave him a thumbs up and mouthed, “Get your man!”

“By the way, I remember we met yesterday,” Shiro recalled with a small smile. “I hope I was able to help, even if it was just a little.”

“It was really nice of you to help,” Keith replied. “Thanks again.”

“My pleasure. I never introduced myself yesterday, did I?” Shiro held out his hand. “Takashi Shirogane. I go by Shiro though.”

Keith was definitely not going to slip and say that he already knew Shiro’s name. He instead gripped Shiro’s hand in a firm handshake and said, “I’m Keith.”  

“I’ve heard from Allura that you’re only working here for these few days?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah, I’m helping her out. There are way too many customers coming in during the holidays, and ALTEA’s a bit short staffed during the holidays. I just hope I’m actually helping and not driving customers away.”

“I think you’re great at this, Keith,” Shiro reassured.

“You’re too kind,” Keith responded. “I’m sure I’ve scared away some customers already. I’m trying to be a bit friendlier, but some customers make it really hard.”

“I hope I’m not one of them,” Shiro teased.

A light chuckle erupted from Keith’s lips. “I can definitely tell you that you’re not. You’re probably my favorite customer as of now.”

“As of now, huh? Not your favorite customer of all time?”

“Hmm,” Keith pretended to be deep in thought. “Sorry, not quite there yet.”

Shiro’s lips curved into a playful smile. “Oh? Who do I have to dethrone?”

“No one,” Keith lightly replied. “I just don’t have a favorite customer of all time yet.”

“Well, you’re about to.”

For the rest of Keith’s shift, he helped Shiro pick out clothes and the duo ended up creating a makeshift fashion show, with Keith helping Shiro choose what style would fit him best, and with Shiro acting as the model. Time flew by and before they knew it, it was the end of Keith’s shift and Shiro had a bunch of shirts, different types of pants, and even a couple of accessories in his basket.

Keith chuckled. “You sure you wanna take all of that? I didn’t know you were actually serious about buying them all.”

“You chose all of them for me,” Shiro replied warmly, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “And I did say that you’re about to have a favorite customer.”

Keith snorted, and a smile crept its way onto his face. “Well, you do make me feel like I'm doing a good job at being a salesperson. Also, it’s your money. Allura’s gonna be thrilled that you’re supporting her shop this much.” Keith then reached down to grab Shiro’s basket. “I’ll bring your clothes to the cashier for now. My shift’s done for the day, but if you want anything else, or want any more help, feel free to come back again!”

“Supporting Allura’s not the only reason I’m here though,” Shiro muttered under his breath, once Keith was out of hearing range.  

The next day, Shiro came back again, asking Keith if he had any recommendations from their spring collection that would suit him.

“You’re looking for more..?” Keith sputtered.

Sheepishly, Shiro scratched the back of his head. “I really like uh…your taste, Keith. Plus, I enjoyed our time together yesterday.”

Clearing his throat, Keith, as calm as he could, asked Shiro to follow him and showed him to their recently stocked spring collection.  

* * *

“Shiro,” Allura firmly spoke. “The Holts’ new year’s eve party is tomorrow.”

Shiro, who was sitting and currently had his face buried in his palms, nodded.

“And you still haven’t invited Keith, even though you said you wanted to and that you were going to do it yesterday.”

Shiro nodded again with a sigh.

“As much as I appreciate that you’re buying our products every time you come to see Keith, please just ask him out already.”

“You don’t understand,” Shiro groaned. “Every time I even thought about asking him, my brain just refuses to spit out the question. What if he thinks I’m weird for asking him on a date even though we’ve only known each other for a few days? What if our current friendship gets strained because of it?”  

“Shiro, you don’t have to worry about any of that,” Allura reassured. “Lance and Keith are good friends, even though neither of them will admit it out loud, and from what Lance has told me, Keith talks about you…a lot. I won’t divulge the specifics, but I’ll tell you that if you ask Keith to the Holts’ party, he’ll be more than willing to go with you. Now please, excuse my language, but as Lance would say, ‘grow some balls’ and invite Keith to the Holts’ party as your date.”

“Okay, alright,” Shiro yielded. “ I’ll do it. I’ll definitely ask him soon.”

“Now,” Allura corrected.

“What—”

Allura grabbed both of Shiro’s upper arms and shoved him out her open office door.

* * *

“Just do it Keith,” Lance encouraged. Him and Keith walked out of the staff room, recently changed into their work uniform. “You two haven’t even exchanged contact info yet, and today’s your last day here. It’s now or never.”

“Allura and Shiro are friends. Maybe if I ask her she’ll give me his number,” Keith reasoned. “I still have a chance to ask him later.”

“No!” Lance disagreed passionately. “Keith, you’re like the most straightforward person I know, and you’re confident in almost everything you do. Your confidence is a charm point, buddy. I’ve seen you use that confidence with Shiro before. Use it now too, buddy.”

Keith held out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. “Yeah, okay, okay. You’re right.”

“No chickening out. You either ask him for his number or ask him out for coffee, or both.”

“No chickening out,” Keith parroted. “Yeah, I’ll do it when I see him today.”

“Speak of the devil, here he comes now,” Lance pointed out. Keith’s head shot up and turned to find Shiro stumbling out of Allura’s office. Their eyes met, and after a few seconds, Shiro squared his jaw and started walking towards Keith and Lance. “Here’s your chance. You can do it, man.” Lance gave a quick double thumbs up and speed walked away.

“You can do it Keith,” Keith muttered. “Just ask Shiro out for a coffee. It’s no big deal. ‘Do you want to get coffee with me sometime?’ It’s a simple question.”

“Keith?”

Keith raised his gaze to meet Shiro’s. Both men held each other’s gazes for a few seconds before Shiro cleared his throat.

“I was wondering uh…” Keith kept staring at Shiro and Shiro swore he was starting to sweat buckets. “You mentioned that you and Katie, uh Pidge, are friends right?”

“…Yeah, we are…”

“That's a really interesting coincidence,” Shiro rambled. “Did I ever tell you I’m close with her brother? Their whole family basically.”

“I think you mentioned that once before, yeah.”

“Right. New Year’s right around the corner too.”

Keith nodded. “Oh, I heard from Pidge that her family’s doing something for New Year. She asked if I wanted to join them and I told her that I’d think about it.”

“Mmhm,” Shiro murmured, seemingly normal on the outside but panicking on the inside. Pidge had already asked Keith to their party, but Shiro could still ask him to go with his date, right? “So, do you think you’ll join?” Shiro calmly (or at least he hoped it was calmly) asked.

“I uh, maybe,” Keith answered. He peeked up at Shiro through his long bangs. “Are you going?”

 _“Do it now,”_ Shiro encouraged himself. _“Rip off the band-aid now Shiro.”_

Shiro nodded, still hoping that he was maintaining a calm composure. “I was thinking about it, and uh, well, they were asking me to bring someone too, as a… uh, date.” Blushing, he peeked down at Keith to gauge his reaction. The younger man was holding his gaze intently, but Shiro thought he saw a slight flinch.

 _“Was that a flinch? Is the flinch a bad sign?_ ” Shiro mentally panicked.

“Oh… I’m sure you have someone in mind already…”Keith spoke with a leveled, almost robotic tone.

At that point, most likely due to over-analyzing Keith’s body language and voice, Shiro’s brain, thankfully, decided to go “you only live once” and finally blurted out what he was trying to ask in the first place.

“I do, yeah, so I was wondering if you’d wanted to go with me?”

“Wait what?”

Shiro was now thinking maybe it wasn’t the best idea to just blurt it out on the spot.

“Uh…if you’re not busy, that is…?”

“You’re actually asking me?” Keith pointed to himself in disbelief. “Me? To go with you? As your date?”

“Yes…?”

“Huh,” Keith muttered, folding his arms. “I’m just gonna go ahead and say it. I think you’re an amazing person, and I really enjoyed spending time with you during all those times you came to shop here. I’ve been trying to find a way to ask you out for a while now. So yeah, of course, I’ll go with you to the Holts’ New Year Party.”

Shiro cocked his head in slight confusion. “You were going to ask me out?”

“Yeah, and to be completely honest, I didn’t really know how to go about it.”

“Keith,” Shiro started. “If you asked, I would’ve accepted in a heartbeat.”  

Keith blinked. “I never thought you’d never be interested in someone like me.”

“I literally came here when you have your shifts and try to find you,” Shiro confessed. “Even though, now that I think back on it, may have been a bit creepy.”

“No wonder you kept coming back and either returning or buying more clothes…”

“I love ALTEA but you’re the reason I kept coming back multiple times in these past few days.” Shiro took one step closer and, after a slight moment of hesitance, went ahead and reached for Keith’s hands. Shiro gently took both of Keith’s hands and enveloped them in his own.

“So, you’re willing to accompany me to the Holts’ party as my date?”

Keith nodded. “Of course. And the day after the party, will you be willing to go out and get coffee with me? It doesn’t even have to be coffee if you don’t like it, it can be anything. I just want to spend the day with you.”   

Shiro’s eyes lit up while a beaming smile spread across his face. Keith, who wasn’t used to saying something like that at all, was currently sporting bright pink cheeks while still trying to maintain eye contact with Shiro. Shiro leaned down slightly and pressed his forehead against Keith’s lightly.

“As long as you’re there, I don’t mind wherever we go for our date.”

Meanwhile, hidden behind a nearby shelf, Allura and Lance, with huge smiles on their faces, enthusiastically slapped their palms together in a high five.  

**Author's Note:**

> Hi hi! This is my first fic contribution to the Voltron fandom, yay! :D I actually got into Voltron quite late (at around S6-ish), but all the characters are so amazing, and I fell in love with them! 
> 
> I wrote this little fic for an exchange in a Sheith discord I'm in, and it was super fun to work on! Being my first VLD fic, I was quite nervous, but I decided to go for it! I hope you guys enjoyed it! ^_^
> 
> Feel free to talk to me on [ twitter](https://twitter.com/bunnymikaaa) or [tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/teddiehtet)


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